Russellville's Advertising and Promotions (A&P) Commission voted unanimously at a called meeting Wednesday afternoon to accept Mark Tripp's request that they withdraw him as a nominee for the board's sole "public at large" position.

The city council was expected to vote on the nomination at tonight's meeting.

Tripp made the request near the end of the meeting in which city council members, commissioners and citizens bickered for over two hours about issues including the validity of a commissioner's re-appointment in general; the appropriateness of Tripp's re-appointment, specifically given his personal connection with A&P Director Christie Graham; and what some present said is a relative shortage of hotel and motel representatives on the commission.

"In respect to the other commissioners, I would ask that you withdraw my name and allow this commission to appoint another candidate to send to the council," Tripp said, speaking for the first time all afternoon.

"If one of the two of us had to go, somebody's employment is far more important than someone's volunteer time," he added, presumably in reference to Graham. Both she and Tripp have previously confirmed she was employed with his company, Russellville Medical Supply, for a period of months prior to her employment as A&P director, and that her mother is also a longtime employee of Russellville Medical Supply.

The commission voted last week to re-appoint Tripp - who has served on the board since 2005 - to an additional 4-year term.

Alderman and commissioner Freddie Harris indicated she raised via e-mail to other commission members many of the questions about Tripp's re-appointment that led to the called meeting. She questioned how Tripp could vote in a non-biased fashion given his admitted friendship and personal connections with Graham.

"If Mark makes Christie mad, he has to work with her momma..." Harris said, leaving the remainder of the sentence unstated.

"Am I the only one that feels like Mark has a conflict of interest?" she asked.

Commission chair Brad Allen, who owns and operates a local McDonald's franchise, was the only board member to directly reply to the question.

"I think that there are obviously varying opinions. It has been discussed and considered, and we knew," he said of Graham and Tripp's connections.

Harris questioned Tripp's membership on the board of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Arkansas River Valley, which received funds from the commission to help with advertising this year's ValleyFest.

Also, since the city council agreed to enter into a contract for service with the Boys and Girls Club, City Attorney Trey Smith said he had to research whether it was legal for Tripp to serve on both the Boys and Girls Club board and the A&P Commission.

Harris also mentioned the relative shortage of hotel industry representatives on the commission. The commission garners the vast majority of its income from a 3-percent hotel tax. Currently, Pam Goines, the manager of Fairfield Inn and Suites, is the sole commissioner who is directly affiliated with a hotel, motel or place of lodging.

"If we're going to tax certain businesses, I feel very strongly ... they need representation," Harris said, likening the current situation to a case of "taxation without representation."

Alderman Robert Wiley - who is a former member of the commission - joined Harris in questioning Tripp's re-appointment, albeit for different reasons.

"I am against 'rolling over' your commissioners year after year after year," he said. "The term itself is up, so I would like to see new blood in that seat."

Allen replied A&P regulations do not prohibit commissioners from being re-appointed, while Smith pointed out the city council has the privilege of final approval over all commission appointments.

"If the council doesn't want the person, then don't approve them," Smith said.

Following Tripp's request that his name be removed from consideration, the board decided to seek an opinion from Smith (who had by that time left the meeting) regarding whether the new commissioner should fill a tourism industry position - necessitating a re-shuffling of the board, as all four are currently occupied - or should be classified as an at large member.

Once that determination is made, the commission indicated it will notify the press so those wishing to be considered may make their desire to serve known to commissioner Andy Thomas, the incoming chair.

Background

According to records provided by Graham, Tripp was appointed to the commission after restaurateur Kevin Peacock resigned in mid-term, setting off a chain of events wherein Lake Dardanelle State Park employee Andy Thomas, who at the time occupied the "at large" position, moved into Peacock's vacated position as a member of the tourist industry in order to allow Tripp, whose business interests do not qualify him as a member of the tourism industry, to join the board.

Tripp is the son of former Alderman Ronnie Tripp, who was on the city council at the time of Mark Tripp's appointment.

State law and local ordinance mandates at least four members of the commission must be owners or managers of businesses in the tourism industry, with at least three of those directly affiliated with a restaurant or hotel. The other three members of the commission include two members of the "governing body of the city" - in this case, the city council - and the member from the "public at large."